It was back in the late '70's if I remember correctly. Supposedly, on several occasions, people heard an animal-like noise in the woods. Like a loud growling or something? My dad heard about it on the police scanner. Anyway, I think it turned out to be some kids playing a joke.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - George Washington once slept here, but he might find it harder nowadays. A strange something is at large, wailing or screaming nightly a mile from the ancestral home of the Father of His Country. For nine noisy months, the mystery creature has haunted a patch of woods surrounded by $150,000 homes near Mount Vernon, wrecking the peace and defying spotting and identification. Local teen-agers have caught its act on tape. It goes something like: "ooahkra-ah," or "eeveakgoo-ah." or even "aaaoohauoa-ah-oo."

The Mount Vernon Monster, some call it. Others, Bigfoot. More guess: hoot owls, loud frogs, a radio with a stuck button, wild boars, a prankster with a bull horn, or the ghost of George washington's pigs. "One person suggested a peacock". said George Stickman, Fairfax County game warden, who has ruled out bears, bobcats and other fauna found in the vicinity. The peacock theory may not be too exotic. Experts at the nearby Mason Neck Wildlife Refuge said peafowl are often kept as yard pets in the south One could have flown the coop and fluttered to Mount Vernon. "They have a loud, penetrating cry, almost like a scream," said John Aldrich, a retired Fish and Wildlife researcher. Mike Morgan of the National zoo said the birds used to escape frequently when allowed to roam the grounds. Whatever it may be, the creature is elusive as well as vocal. It has foiled police watches, flyovers by a U.S. Park police helicopter, volunteer youth patrols and the determined efforts of warden Stickman.

"The thing seems to know when you leave the woods. Then it starts to holler," said Stickman, who staged a fruitless overnight vigil to catch the interloper. Meanwhile, residents continue to discuss the problem at get- togethers, playing tapes and advancing theories. "Maybe it's a wounded animal or bird with damaged vocal cords," said Maggie Oyer, who thinks the sound it makes is a "low wailing." One resident, Thelma Crisp, says she spotted the monster. She described it as a creature about six feet tall which lumbered into the woods after being sighted. Could it be a Bigfoot, trying to reach headquarters of the Fish and Wildlife Service in Washington, 15 miles away? "If its Bigfoot, and there's proof." said a spokesman, "we'd protect it."

I used to go with friends to a golf course near Quantico, VA. We would sit and listen to this thing. I've spent a great deal of time in the wilds. This was not a fox. Could of been a hoax, but it sure sounded real.

Ok, I did hear about the rumor of the Mount Vernon Monster back in the 80's and we all loved to talk about it while we were running the streets at night. I personally never heard the infamous Mount Vernon Monster but will concede that something was probably going on – at least back in the 80’s. And whether it’s a rumor, fact or folklore we owe it to the kids today to play it up so they have something to pass down. KayKay… I graduated from Mount Vernon in 1984.

My son and I just watched a show on the Travel Channel tonight about Bigfoot. It made me Google Mt. Vernon Monster and I found this thread. I was on on Gateshead RD 1968-1986. My mom was best friends with Mrs. Crisp on Union Farm RD. The kids in Southwood had a big laugh back in the day. They said it was done by a guy on Adrianne DR, at the foot of Dandridge TERR. He used his dad's massive stereo played out the back windows. They said he also dug in their trash cans on Union Farm RD. He graduated around 1979 or 1980.
InsideGuy, I was MVHS 1984 too.

It was no hoax people. There was something there in the woods for awhile. I used to go down there 2 or 3 times a week with another friend......never alone. I first heard about it while reading the Alexandria Gazette in about 79'. The first time I went out there to check it out was in 1983. I was 19 at that time. My buddy & I went out into the woods to listen for something. We stayed in the woods for about 30 mins but didn't hear anything. Then we went back to the car to hang out in there since it was chilly out. The police came down to see what we were doing in 3 separate squad cars. The officer asked us what we were doing there & my buddy told him that we were there to listen for the monster. The officer had a good chuckle & told us that he personally didn't believe in it but that his partner did. Just as that came out of his mouth, there was a horrific scream from about 100 feet away. The officer told us to get out of there & at that point he ran to his squad car & raced down Union Farm Rd & through the gate of the Old Union Farm with the other squad cars following him. They had their spotlights on in every direction. We left immediately. Another night I was down there with 4 other friends of mine. We were hanging out on the little bridge just at the entrance to the Old Union Farm property. We were playing 20 questions just to pass the time. I kept hearing these strange knocks of wood on wood every few minutes. I don't think the other guys payed attention to it but I heard it 3 separate times total. I told my buddies that I kept hearing the knocks and after saying "hey guys, that is the 3rd time I've heard that sound" This thing screamed at us. It was the most horrific scream I have ever heard & it was about 25 or so feet from us. The most harrowing part was that we had to run right by it to get to the car. As we were running past it to the car it screamed again. The scream was totally enveloping and felt as if it would knock you over. At that point it was about 10 or 12 feet from us. I can tell you that is was no speaker or person that can scream like that. This was a low guttural scream that came from the belly & up to the chest. It was nothing I have ever heard before. I've been out in the woods my entire life hunting, camping, fishing etc...& there is no animal that can make that kind of sound. That particular evening only 2 of us were believers up until that point. After that night all 5 of us were believers in this creature. That was the scariest night of my life & I'll never forget it. There were other occasions that we would go out there to listen & we actually heard it yelling several times but never at that close proximity again. It tossed rocks at me & my buddy once & we even saw it's breath on a really cold evening right at the treeline on the golf course. People can be skeptics all they want, that is their choice but when you experience something like my friends & I did you never forget it & question a lot of your former beliefs. There is more & more evidence mounting that Bigfoot is out there in our world. One day there will be rock solid proof. In any event, thanks for this website.

Yeah right, if you ever heard it, you would know its not a fox. Foxes dont make a noise like that, being from the country, I know what a fox sounds like and that was no fox the nights I witnessed the sound from the Mt. Vernon Monster in the early 1980's

A group of my friends and I used to go there regularly in the early 80's. More often than not, the only sounds we heard were the police cars pulling in to shoo us away, but we heard the thing dozens of times. One night in particular we were all standing at the end of the road before the little bridge with our flashlights, looking through the edges of the woods on either side. The blacktop ended about 20 yards before the bridge and the dirt road was bone-dry. We walked back up the street and hung around by our cars for about 20 minutes. The automatic sprinklers were on at the golf course beside the road and we distinctly heard something splash through one of the sprinklers. Moments later we heard a large cracking sound like a tree branch breaking. A few seconds later we heard that distinctive low pitched grumbling kind of sound that we'd heard dozens of times before. We walked back down to the dirt part of the road with our flashlights and there was one small (2' x 6" approx) wet spot on the edge of the road at the woods on the golf course side, a large, circular wet spot in the middle of the dirt road and another small wet spit at the edge of the woods on the other side of the road. The large spot in the middle had lots of little spots around it as if something stood there for a few seconds and was dripping. We looked into the woods by the golf course and saw a freshly broken branch about 8 feet up that wasn't there earlier. It was about an inch and a half in diameter if I remember right. Whatever it was that crossed the road did it in only three steps and it's a good twenty feet across. Strangest part was there were no noticeable footprints in the wet dirt. A fox might be able to make it across in three steps but I've never seen one climb a tree after being drenched by a sprinkler and snap a large branch. There was a time when one of the guys who lived on the street tried to mess with the kids that would go "monster watching" dressed in a gorilla suit, but after that night the bunch of us were and still are that this was no hoax and I'm one skeptical s.o.b. Take it for what it's worth. I have other stories, but this one was the most bizarre.

The Mt. Vernon Monster was a couple of kids that had more fun with technology than drugs!! It was in 1979 or '80. A few people with vivid imaginations said the saw the monster. Well there was no such thing, just some very savy Mt. Vernon High boys that put speakers in the trees! One of the boys I am very famaliar with - my son!

I'm very interested in hearing from people who were there between September 1978 and Summer of 1979.

I am most interested in people who can provide first hand accounts. I'm interested in claims of hoaxing -- for instance, if someone was hoaxing, did you witness the hoaxing? Did you participate in the hoaxing? There can't be any legal repercussions now, so don't be afraid to come forward if you were involved and can give information about a possible hoax.

Likewise, I'm interested in hearing from people who were there and who knew the principle witnesses. If it's at all possible, I'd be interested in generating a timeline of events.

If you were a witness either to the sounds the creature made, or of the creature itself, I'd be very interested in hearing from you. All correspondence with me will be held private at your request. You can email me from the blog linked above, or from the address at the top of this post.

I grew up in Ft Hunt.Born in 1970.I have 4 older brothers and sisters.I heard alot about this when it was going on.My siblings used to go and listen for it.I dont know if it was a hoax or an animal,though I do know alot of people that claimed to hear something in the woods out there.I read a post by inside guy that said he grew up in Mt Vernon and there was no such thing.He must have led a shelterd life not to have heard of the monster,be it real or hoax.

Interesting stuff, I wen't to MVHS "75" but never heard of this thing...had left for Germany 76-81. I do remember the UFO sighting though, not sure I believed it at the time. I lived over in Riverside Estates but am familiar with Gateshead as I had a girlfriend that lived on that street. I assume the woods that are referenced are the Mt.Zeypher park where the creek runs across Old Mill?

I'm interested in hearing from Cannho about who perpetrated this prank. I'm an MV grad too ('84) and remember all the backyard conversations about the Mt. Vernon monster and the articles in the local papers (even the Washington Post had an article at one point). Then I was told several years later (probably 1983 or '84) by the person who did this prank (and it was a prank) how they did it. In other words, I know your son.

There was a Mount Vernon Monster. Those who say there was not are either incorrect or not telling the truth. Those who say it was a hoax or clever kids from MVHS are either incorrect or not telling the truth. It is certainly possible that this happened later in this episode like in after 1983, etc., but from 76 to 82, Not. I saw it and more than one. I tracked it with others. I did this for years and this happened every night. I spent many nights sleeping in the woods or on the roof of the Crisp's house. The real part was no hoax.

we were there it was totally for real i saw it run trough bryants field accross from union farm and the woodlawn golf course we always chgecked out the screams big hid from park police and fairfax lived in pipe under road they were always hunting for 10 cops wide during the day looking through the woods at union farm park police and fair fax walking through the woods doing a sweep

rl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> we were there it was totally for real i saw it run
> trough bryants field accross from union farm and
> the woodlawn golf course we always chgecked out
> the screams big hid from park police and fairfax
> lived in pipe under road they were always hunting
> for 10 cops wide during the day looking through
> the woods at union farm park police and fair fax
> walking through the woods doing a sweep

If it ever existed (which I seriously doubt) it could definitely exist quite easily in Huntley Meadows Park. Many acres of swamp that no human could or would want to traverse. In fact, I'm surprised that the urban legend hasn't made the switch to such a convenient locale. As for being a fox, I can believe it. Ever heard a vixen in heat? I actually called the police while sitting on my porch one mild winter night thinking that some chick was being murdered! The officer on call explained that it probably was a fox. I then went online to hear fox sounds and lo and behold... mystery solved! I'm now living in far upstate NY on the St. Lawrence River (after living all my life in the DC area!) and I actually miss hearing the foxes. On frigid winter nights though I often hear bands of roving coyotes. They definitely have a more primal sound than the foxes. I hope some night to meet up with a pack, although I know they would bolt at my mere presence. BTW, I'm old enough to remember Groveton HS even though I graduated from Robert E. Lee. Go Lancers 1982!

I'm telling you guys, there was a mount vernon monster, and it was most likely bigfoot. My father posted on here, a couple of years ago, but he has now passed away. his post is still there---"Doug Barry". But he would sleep on top of the Crisp family's roof every chance he got during his college summers. He heard those strange noises that everyone is talking about, as well as having golf balls from the nearby golf course chucked out of the woods into their yard.One night, and this was the night that he captured the sounds on tape, he was in the woods with his friends tracking the thing ( and he seems to think there was more than one, and if you listen to the tape, you can tell that there was more than one). He saw it, about 15 yards away in the midst of night. All he could tell me is that it was BIG, and as soon as he caught the glimpse of how big it actually was, he turned right around and exited the woods. He had also called the police that night, and they were there as well, although they weren't in the woods, because the police dogs that they brought were too scared to go into the forest. On the tape that my dad made ( and that I now possess), you can actually here the police dogs whimpering because they didn't want to go any farther towards whatever was making those strange noises. One other thing, he also brought his father m(who worked with all sorts of animals) to the woods so that he could hear the noises himself. His father absolutely did not believe my dad in any way that it could be bigfoot, but he did say one thing, he said, "I have never heard of any animal that makes that sound, I have no idea what it could be.". The mount vernon monster was no teenage hoax people, it was either bigfoot or some other creature that we haven't identified (which I highly doubt).

Hi yall,
Im a current resident of Old Mill Road and student at Mount Vernon high school. I have very fond memories of when I was younger, my buddies and I would spend all day in the woods behind South wood. We explored the woods compelety, all the way up to gristmill park. I will admitt, the woods do have a very strange and eerie feeling to them. Its hard to explain why we were drawn to it... even sometimes we would be adventerous and sneak out of our houses and meet up with flashlights to go into the woods... At the time, we had no idea that there were stories about the "Mount Vernon Monster". Does anyone know when the sightings of the supposesed "Monster" stopped? Also, when referancing the old storm drain that some claim the "Monster lived in, are you talking about the one that is in gristmill park?

My dad went to MVHS in the late seventies. He searched for this creature from 1976-1982, so I think that is when the sightings started to stop. He said that there were a couple of hoaxes that happened after 1983. My father is dead now, but I still have his recording tape of the what the creature sounded like. It sounds pretty real to me, and it is also very strange. He never said anything to me about living in an old storm drain, whenever he saw it, it was at night time, and it was howling and throwing things at him. I wish I would of known about this storm drain before he died only a month ago, or I would have asked him about it. His post that he made on here is still there. His name is Doug Barry. Let me know if you have any other questions.

i am in college right now in West Virginia. When I return home to VA in October for my Fall break, I will be sure to try and upload this tape recording. The tape is at my home in VA so that's why I can't do it now. I also would have done this sooner, but I had no idea that you could upload an old fashioned tape recording to the internet.

I also have heard the monster many times, spent a lot of weekend on golf course.
I'm also from country, and I have heard many foxes, and none that ever sounded like what I have heard back in the late 70's early 80's. I have seen this monster at the end of road to the entrance to house that sits back behind the gates. You can smell it if it is close enough, stinks like dirty skunk!
You people who don't believe, must have never experienced this or you would be a believer or deny it because your afraid to admit you were scared!!
I wish we had the technology we have today, things could have been recorded or pictures taken. I will always believe this was real. Sorry about your Dad Logan.
My best friend's house backed to golf course and they heard it many time ever night for years. Just got used to noise after awhile. I would sit patio and listen with her. Makes your legs week and hair stand.
Believe !

I lived on Southwood Drive at that time and taped the sound. It rattled windows. It was very deep and not like any animal I have heard and I had spent time in the outdoors. The sound moved quickly from one end of the street to the other, even when investigators were present. There were large woods with marshy land behind our home. It sounded like it came from that area most of the time. No one could carry the technology of the time through the water. We were talking about this at a family dinner tonight and everyone remembered it. This is not a sound ever forgotten!

you must of been a couple or a few years younger than my dad if you graduated in '84, he was on the football team at your school, although I doubt you would remember him. I know his mom (my grandmother) was the counselor at MVHS for a while (her name Was "Mrs. Barry"), but I'm not sure if she was still there while you were still in high school. I'm surprised that there was still activity going on in '84, but that's awesome. My family and I are currently searching for his tape recording, because he did record it. It really sucks, because I want to upload it, but we can't find it anywhere. My Dad was the only one who knew where it was. When and if I do find it, this will be the place that I will upload it at.

I am a retired Police Officer and I can assure you this was no Hoax. There were several reported sightings of this creature, including a sighting by an MP from Fort Belvoir, residents along Union Ford Rd. and some kids on the Golf Course, and a hunter in a tree stand, hunting in a near by swamp for deer. I was there one night in May of 1979 and heard the screams, and being an avid hunter and outdoors man. I can say It was not any animal that I've ever heard. It would make your hair stand on end, I'll never forget it...... I,ve done my own investigation.... You decide for yourself.

Iwas there back in the day. w/Stickman.
We were using listing devices and older infared. No starlight back then we could get. Belive me it was there. //Johnny G./Buddy. /Ron. Hope you see this.
Been over 30 years.
John

Cannho,
Are your son's initials BB, who had a black and red motorcycle or was this guy your son's friend? A friend of his said he used his dad's stereo and I think a reel-to-reel tape player, turning the reels by hand to make the sound they recorded deeper and more menacing.

Also, there was a gray fox living in those woods by night when the monster was around. A neighbor's father saw it one night on the edge of the woods in his backyard. It's bark sounded like it was being strangled, each one lasted about one second. It wasn't a howl or a growl, but it got attention too, and many people confused it with "The Mt. Vernon Monster".

Why doesn't someone on this thread call in the guys from Finding Bigfoot on Animal Planet?

Cannho Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Mt. Vernon Monster was a couple of kids that
> had more fun with technology than drugs!! It was
> in 1979 or '80. A few people with vivid
> imaginations said the saw the monster. Well there
> was no such thing, just some very savy Mt. Vernon
> High boys that put speakers in the trees! One of
> the boys I am very famaliar with - my son!

Cannho,
Are your son's initials BB, who rode a black and red motorcycle or was this guy your son's friend? A friend of his said he used his dad's stereo and I think a reel-to-reel tape player, turning the reels by hand to make the sound they recorded deeper and more menacing.

Phantom,
I assume you know BB.

dapht,
Why doesn't someone on this thread call in the guys from Finding Bigfoot on Animal Planet?

So you were one of hoaxers? Truthfully? Come on man, it took you this long to finally come out with this? This has been something that I've been obsessed with for most of my life. Please do give me a full layout of what you "hoaxers did during this time frame to make sure everyone heard those noises. Because my dad would sit out in the woods every night and and had encounters and heard the noises every night. did you guys also throw golf balls and logs at trees and into front yards from the woods? Because that's what my dad said happened, every single night he was investigating it. And also said that he visibly saw it for himself. So I would love to hear the full layout of everything you guys did to pull this off, and would to see if fits the description to what my dad saw. Please respond, very interested In this topic.

I don't have one that works anymore actually, but one of friends still has one. I will definitely do this, and I honestly don't know how I didn't think of doing that in the first place. Thanks. Will upload it shortly (within a week hopefully)

Here's the audio recording my father took of the sounds that the "Mt. Vernon Monster" made. I can't remember if he said this recording was all in one night or over an extended period of nights. Either way, it was pretty clear when I listened to it. At some point, you can hear the police dogs that were there, and you can hear either my father or someone who was with him whisper "it's over there, in the Crisp's yard." There are also a couple parts in the recording where a blurb of music will come in, I guess he was taping over something he had on there before.

Person Recording Audio: Doug Barry

Let me know if there are any problems downloading or listening to the file.
Attachments:

If anyone wants to email me, use the link in this new post, as I don't have access to the old email address. (And I don't know why.. I srsly thought I still had that!)

The timeline for the events seems to extend further into the 80s than I had thought, and there appears to be a more solid case for at least one hoaxer, though the timeline for that isn't given. I don't doubt that someone could have hoaxed, but I do wonder whether someone would be committed to doing it for ten years. That'd be a story in itself!

Also, one poster said that the sound was only ever heard on Adrienne Drive, but I have accounts from more places than that. There could be a confluence of multiple times here, though. Perhaps there were times when a hoaxer was active, and the sounds were only heard in a small area. I wish I could nail these things down. As it is right now, we have many anecdotal accounts spread across a fairly lengthy span of time.

If anyone would like to sit for an interview, please let me know at the address above. This includes people who perpetrated a hoax. I've got no judgment about what happened. I mean, back in the 70s when I was a kid, I enjoyed prank calling people! (Is your refrigerator running? Better catch it! Ohhh, so clever we were..) So I get the motivation, and would hold private any details someone didn't want made public. The reason I ask is that I have interviews from people who witnessed the events, but none from people who admit to hoaxing. I would like to get some of that on the record if I could.

Likewise, if you were a witness and want your account preserved, please contact me. Your anonymity is assured if you want it that way. I only keep a page at my regular blog and don't do a lot with it at the moment. I probably update it every two years. But I feel like something like this should be preserved and kept up with. As time goes by, we lose the witnesses and supporting materials. I wish I could have interviewed one of the principle witnesses, but I came along too late. So let's try to save what we've got left.

I am with Big John. I would love to hear some sort of story that would help prove "Suckers" was one of the hoaxers, and that there actually were hoaxers. I still stand in my belief that this wasn't a hoax. But would love to hear a credible story point otherwise to bring this mystery to a resolution. Because the sounds in that audio recording that I posted was from those woods, and was in the right time frame, and it was taken by a credible source (at least it was for me). The audio recording sounds pretty damn real, and I think if it had of been hoaxers, my father and whoever else investigated it, would have figured it out if those noises were just coming from speakers because they were in the woods with it. You can even tell by listening to the recording that the sounds were moving, like an animal would, not like speakers fixed in the trees would. My dad did say that he saw it, I can't say whether or not I believe what he said was true, but I sure as hell believe that he believed whatever he saw and heard was what he thought it was. If someone on here is truly claiming that they were one of the hoaxers, then by all means, please come forward and tell us your story and how you were able to pull it off. Some closure would be nice. Your on an anonymous thread, you can't get into any trouble for telling us how you were able to pull it off, if that is truly the case. But claiming that you were, and never answering our messages, definitely gives us no reason to believe otherwise.

I have lived here long enough to know about the Mount Vernon Monster. I've heard it countless times. I would be interested in hearing the recording. I'll verify if that's what I heard on a regular basis.
Thanks.

Scroll up, until you get to the comment that I posted on November 11, 2015 at 05:41 PM. Click on the attached file labeled "Bigfoot.M4A." This is the recording of the noises that I posted, but my Father was the one who took it back in '79. Let me know if it compares to what you heard.

I lived on Pickering place for three years during the late seventies and early eighties. My family and neighbors heard this sound over one hundred times. Don't know if it was a hoax or not but it was sure real and it scared the hell out of most everyone who heard it.
Feel free to reach out. We will talk.

I'm pretty bummed I am just coming across this thread. I grew up in Mount Vernon Manor, as with my father and always loved the stories he would tell me about the Mt. Vernon Monster! I have a lot of fond memories swimming in Miss Crisp's pool and eating cookies while she told me stories of the monster! I even used to ice skate on the frozen swampy area behind her house. I miss her so much!

My father, uncle, and best friends all swear that it was real. Out of the five of them, only one is still alive and is such a fucking waste of life, I refuse to talk to him. So this was so fun to read and brought back some really great memories. For the record, although I was not alive yet when this was all going on, I am a believer!

My neighbor across the street has his own theory of who it was, which I strongly disagree with, but to each their own.

For my own curiosity, is anyone familiar with the Strobles, Maxwells, or another local named Guardy?

While I never have lived in northern Virginia, I am however the 2nd generation of someone who lived in the same area of Mt. Vernon as you. My father grew up on one of the streets near the woods where the noise was coming from, but he didn't live on the treeline, so he would go over to Miss Crisp's house so that he could either: lay on their roof all night to listen for it, sit in the yard and do the same thing where it would throw golf balls and other items from the woods towards the house, or he would go out into the woods and look for it and record the noises it made. If you scroll up in this group, I posted the audio recording that he took.

This is something that also brings back a lot of memories for me as well, and I'm also a journalist and have been sort of following it. So if you would be alright with it, I'd love to just ask you some questions. I'm not writing anything about it, it's just a personal interest of mine.